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in: Behind the scenes

Miracle Man/Background Information

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Miracle Man   Credits   Gallery   Transcript   Background Information    

Production[]

  • This episode was the first to be written by Supervising Producer Howard Gordon without his long-time writing partner, Alex Gansa, who had left the series to spend more time with his family. (The X-Files Magazine Volume 1, Issue 18,  p. 48) The episode turned into the first collaboration between Gordon and Executive Producer Chris Carter. Remembered Carter, "Howard came to my house and said, 'Help me out,' so we went to my living room and put up this bulletin board and in a matter of hours we came up with this story. Then Howard and I split up the scenes. I probably wrote about 45% and he probably wrote about 55%. It was a blast, because Howard and I had never written together before. We had a great time. And I think it set the tone and laid a foundation for what is our [...] relationship [in the second season]." (Cinefantastique, Vol. 26/27, No. 6/1, p. 50) Gordon likewise noted, "We had a lot of fun." (The Complete X-Files: Behind the Series, the Myths and the Movies, p. 49) However, he added, "It was one of those times when we were rushed and in crisis, and we wrote it fairly quickly." (Cinefantastique, Vol. 26/27, No. 6/1, p. 50)
  • Religion featured strongly in the themes which Chris Carter and Howard Gordon chose to write about, Gordon wanting to treat fundamentalist religion in a respectful way. He recounted, "We said, 'This is a show about belief, about possibilities' [....] I think there's a power of faith, and so we set out right away to not do the obvious, which would be to make these people into buffoons. In a way, it was a kind of Jesus story [....] Our premise was, what if a prophet or someone with special powers was set down on Earth? What would happen to him?" (Cinefantastique, Vol. 26/27, No. 6/1, p. 50) Reflected Carter, "We wanted to do something with the bright side of the paranormal, and of course we had to contrast it against the dark side, with this kid who had been able to heal people with his hands and believed he had lost his gift." (X-Files Confidential, p. 67)
  • The focus on faith led to the concept of including Mulder's missing sister, Samantha, in the storyline. Gordon specifically believed that "if it was going to be an episode about faith, every time we talk about faith, a good subject is Mulder's sister. We thought about what would be a way for this story to directly impact on Mulder. What if he comes in contact with the character who has this gift, this power, who can look into him and see what's in the deepest part of his soul? It was an opportunity to revisit that. Could this guy with his power tell Mulder something he didn't know? It was another piece in the sister puzzle. Chris and I were wondering, 'Is this thing going to work?'" (Cinefantastique, Vol. 26/27, No. 6/1, p. 50)
  • This episode's script went through five drafts. These were dated 24th, 30 and 31 January as well as 2nd and 3rd February 1994.
  • Reverend Calvin Hartley's house was depicted using both the exterior and interior of 24990 River Road, Fort Langley, situated high on a bluff in the Lower Mainland. The town of Steveston was also visited by The X-Files' production staff while this episode was being shot. (X Marks the Spot (On Location with The X-Files), pp. 45, 46 & 43) Dekalb County Courthouse – a building in Decatur, Georgia – was clearly used for an exterior view of Kenwood County Courthouse, the building where Samuel Hartley goes on trial.
  • Trying to make this episode's variety of filming locations seem like environments in the American South was challenging for Art Director Graeme Murray. "Setting up the tent and getting that Southern atmosphere in Vancouver was kind of interesting," he explained. "That episode was kind of difficult to put together logistically. There were a lot of different little places, and trying to get that Southern atmosphere was a little tough. It was a real location show." Murray specified this episode "was particularly like" all the locations had to be close to three or four other filming sites which the production crew intended to film on the same day, due to the ever-present time constraints. He concluded, "Putting it all together was very tricky." (X-Files Confidential, p. 69)
Shooting Miracle Man

A moment from this episode's production.

  • This is the second of two first season installments which Director Michael Lange worked on, the other being "Young at Heart". He began work on this episode the very next day after completing the filming of that earlier installment. (TV Zone, issue 79, p. 27)
  • Though this outing is generally believed to be scary in a thought-provoking way through its religious themes, the fact the creative personnel believed the episode includes no particularly frightening scenes was a subject of some debate among the group. Stated Michael Lange, "I remember Chris [Carter] being rather concerned about this [....] Chris and I talked a lot about trying to make the episode scarier and I just kept saying to him, 'It's already so bizarre and frightening that I think anything you do will make it scary.'" (TV Zone, issue 79, p. 27)
  • This episode tasked Co-Executive Producer R.W. Goodwin with ensuring all the Southern accents sounded genuine and consistent. Even though the installment was set in the South of the United States of America, Goodwin had to take into account that the episode was filmed elsewhere and that the cast of performers came from a mix of locales such as Vancouver as well as the South. He called the difficulties with accents "the problem with 'Miracle Man'" and went on to say, "That, for me, was one of the bigger challenges [....] I hired a dialect coach to help even it all out so it didn't sound like they [the actors] were coming from fifteen different parts of the South." (X-Files Confidential, pp. 68–69)
  • The scheduling of the scenes showing faith-healing ceremonies inside a tent was impacted on by the fact Michael Lange was permitted to use the extras for merely half a day. "So I had to film all their scenes first," he specified. The sheer numbers of people and lights heated the tent to an extreme degree. (TV Zone, issue 79, p. 28) All these scenes were filmed in only one day, which turned out to be a memorable experience for Lange. (X-Files Confidential, p. 68) He noted, "It was a pretty intense day but a lot of fun." (TV Zone, issue 79, p. 28) Lange further mused, "I, myself, have a kind of skepticism about all these faith healers, but by the end of that day I could see how people would be drawn into it, because it's very compelling. There were some very inspirational things in there, and everyone became so infused with this fervor that you really could understand how it could all happen. It doesn't happen often on TV that you can explore an area of the human experience and feel it that much." (X-Files Confidential, p. 68)
  • Filming the scene in which an insect swarm fills a courtroom was an unusual challenge, involving 2000 locusts and 10000 crickets. Michael Lange remembered, "It was quite a disgusting day [....] The locusts, I found out, had these sort of clingy feet [...] and leave these little brown stains [on people]. I never asked what they were but I can only imagine. It was very difficult to get out of clothing and we ended up buying a lot of clothes from the extras." (TV Zone, issue 79, p. 28)
  • Filming Reverend Hartley's estate involved, in Todd Pittson's words, "a big night-lighting setup, lightning, and wind machines." Pittson recalled, "On the day of filming, I arrived early in the morning to find the property unexpectedly blanketed in snow. The locations, special effects, and greens crews got to work, steaming and raking and sweeping snow off the large front lawn, since the first shot was to be a wide establisher of the house with the reverend's Cadillac collection lined up in the driveway. Steaming, which was the quick solution, only turned the lawn into mud and had to be abandoned in favour of the more laborious process. Greensman Frank Haddad was quick to point out that, while there had been no report of snow in the Lower Mainland the previous evening, the bluff on which we now stood was a good 200 feet above sea level, which would explain the strange appearance of snow at our location." (X Marks the Spot (On Location with The X-Files), pp. 45–46)
  • Though this episode includes examples of diegetic gospel music, Composer Mark Snow was not involved in the creation of these recordings. He clarified, "There was a lot of gospely, organy, evangelist Bible-thumping stuff that I didn't do. So the score was about 20 minutes or so, and that's unusually light [for episodes of the first season]." (Cinefantastique, Vol. 26/27, No. 6/1, p. 50)
  • This episode was subject to some network-influenced editing. Noted Michael Lange, "We had a bit of controversy in this episode." (TV Zone, issue 79, p. 27) He further explained, "Some of the things I put in were actually pulled back by the [Fox] network when they saw it [....] There was one scene where Samuel was beaten up by the guys in the jail cell and was killed, as we find out in the next scene. I had this one image that I shot, which was the silhouette of him against the wall with the bars, and he actually had taken a crucifix pose, and that of course went bye-bye. Even the bold Fox network couldn't handle that one." (X-Files Confidential, p. 68) Lange concluded, "That never quite made it on the air. I think they cut it somewhere before he gets into the full crucifix position." (TV Zone, issue 79, p. 28)

Goofs[]

  • A legend which describes the building where Samuel Hartley's trial takes place reads "Kenwood County Courthouse". However, the exterior of the building shown is labeled "Dekalb County Courthouse", with distinctive "U"s that look like "V"s on the inscription.

Reception[]

  • Chris Carter and Howard Gordon were ultimately very pleased with how this installment turned out. Gordon commented, "In the end, we think it really did [work]." (Cinefantastique, Vol. 26/27, No. 6/1, p. 50)
  • Michael Lange thought highly of this installment, too, saying, "I really enjoyed the episode." (TV Zone, issue 79, p. 27) He elaborated by musing, "On an intellectual level, it really dealt with the subject of God – the power of God – and the power of man in kind of a neat way. There were a lot of things to think about, working on it as a director, and also for the viewer. If you want to go along with it, it can really take you to some neat places." (X-Files Confidential, p. 68)
  • Conversely, Co-Executive Producer Glen Morgan wasn't satisfied with how this episode portrays fundamentalist Christianity. "To tell you the truth, there are a lot of people for whom it's their faith, and I would like to have had a little more respect towards that," remarked Morgan. (X-Files Confidential, p. 68)
  • This episode achieved a Nielsen household rating of 7.5, with an audience share of 13. This means that roughly 7.5 percent of all television-equipped households, and 13 percent of households watching television, were tuned in to the episode. It was viewed by 7.1 million households. (The Truth Is Out There: The Official Guide to The X-Files, p. 248)
  • This installment received high praise from some fans. Michael Lange opined, "The fans really did [like it]." He suspected the positive viewer response caused Chris Carter to ultimately like the outing, as well. (TV Zone, issue 79, p. 27)
  • Cinefantastique (Vol. 26/27, No. 6/1, p. 50) scores this episode 3 out of 4 stars. The magazine further comments, "Scott Bairstow delivers a powerful portrayal of Samuel's inner doubts and torments, and the jail scene between Mulder and Samuel is one to remember."
  • The X-Files Magazine (The X-Files Magazine Volume 1, Issue 18,  p. 48) called this episode an "unflattering [portrayal] of 'alternative' religion" and went on to say, "While the script [...] is ostensibly about the dangers of putting one's faith in faith healers, the episode is more satisfying when dealing with the respective beliefs of the agents themselves. Mulder's faith that he will someday find his sister is really counterpointed by Scully's belief in Catholicism."
  • In his reference book Wanting to Believe: A Critical Guide to The X-Files, Millennium and The Lone Gunmen, writer Robert Shearman gave this outing 3 and a half out of 5 stars. He critiqued, "The religious debate on offer here is something of a camouflage, I think. At its heart, this is a tragic tale of a man who has a great talent [but loses it] [....] It's a classic idea [....] And it humanises this tale which, with all its religious themes, could easily have been distancing – fundamentally, each of us fears that we will never achieve anything great, or even worse, that the greatest of our achievements are behind us [....] To put at the centre of a story an examination of what special powers can do to a man is hugely refreshing. For the most part, too, it's a good story well told, and it's great to see Mulder and Scully acting in concert during an investigation." Shearman criticized the episode's exploration of the way Mulder has defined himself by the abduction of his sister, the writer commenting, "It's here [...] that the story gets a bit stuck, with Mulder having visions of little girls all over the place. Subtlety would have been so much more effective – the passion with which [David] Duchovny questions Bairstow about his 'pain' is so much more successful than the sequences in which he starts chasing minors in red dresses. But unsubtlety is the direction the episode takes [....] There's still lots to enjoy here. Somewhat surprisingly, the Evangelists are not held up to the ridicule one might expect, and though their faith is never endorsed it is still treated without cynicism."

Cast and Characters[]

David Duchovny and Dennis Lipscomb

David Duchovny and Dennis Lipscomb, on the set of this episode.

  • At first, very few background actors were deemed appropriate for the scenes which take place in a Miracle Ministry tent. "Originally, they wanted to give me 50 extras and I told them there was no way I could sell audiences on this guy's popularity with just fifty extras," noted Michael Lange. He went on to recall that he eventually persuaded his superiors to allow him 250 extras. (TV Zone, issue 79, p. 28) In another interview, however, he claimed, "We had three hundred extras." (X-Files Confidential, p. 68)
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